Two a penny

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LATEST:
Threats to pull the plug on an NZ Bus contract if the company refuses to end its lockout of 900 bus drivers are unrealistic, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) says.

NZ Bus, which operates most bus services in Auckland, began the lockout on Thursday after drivers said they would work strictly to the rulebook in support of their wage claim.The company and four unions representing bus drivers are still in facilitation, but there has been little progress reported.No NZ Bus services have run since the n and the disruption became greater today on the first day of the fourth school term.”Like any commercial contract, NZ Bus contracts can be terminated for non-performance,” Mr Lee said.Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee today said the council would begin procedures to end its contract with NZ Bus in coming days if the lockout did not end. .”If this dispute is not settled, I will be calling on Arta to start the process of terminating the existing contracts and finding someone else who will deliver the services that Auckland expects and pays for.”We would need to find an operator that could come up with that level of service in 180 days – that’s fairly impossible.”If we terminated New Zealand Bus completely then we’d leave a 700-bus gap overnight, and we couldn’t do that to the public,” Ms Hunter told Radio New Zealand.”But at this point we’re not examining at that process,” she said.”Ms Hunter said she hoped there would be a resolution in the near future, but if there was no progress within the next few days the authority would look at intervening.”NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney said Mr Lee’s comments were “not helpful”.”In terms of the services that we are running, with alternative operators including our train operators, we are actually managing to get people into work on time.

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The army is tonight rescuing hundreds of motorists trapped in their vehicles after heavy snow closed roads across the central North Island.

Up to 200 vehicles were trapped on Stage Highway 2 between Napier and Taupo, with most cars believed to have stopped because of snow and ice at Waipunga, at about the halfway point.”Police, the army and Civil Defence have activated and the army is sending in Unimogs to get people to buses waiting at a safe point on the road,” he said.About 150 people had made their way to the Te Pohue Hotel and a further 60 were at the Te Pohue Hall, Hastings Civil Defence controller Mike Maguire said.”People need to stay where they are and stay as warm as possible,” Mr Maguire said.He advised those waiting to stay put.”A welfare centre has been set up at Hukerere Girls College at Eskdale, and Red Cross and the Salvation Army workers were gathering there to make sure evacuees were warm and feed.”When they hear or see army vehicles approaching they need to flash their lights so they can be seen.Police central communications Inspector Kirsty Henson said about 120 cars had been stuck on State Highway 1 between Waiouru and the Three Sisters.The army also rescued motorists from SH1 close to Waiouru.Snow had also closed SH49 between Ohakune and Waiouru, and SH47 at Turangi, she said.Those rescued would be returned to their vehicles tomorrow, she told .”Snow is expected down to 400m, with heavy falls through to (tomorrow) morning, especially above 600m,” forecaster Andy Downs said.The MetService issued heavy snow warnings for the central North Island high country, from the Tongariro National Park and the hills and ranges of Hawkes Bay. .A heavy rain warning was also in place for the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

.Heavy rain was expected in Gisborne until tomorrow morning, easing by evening

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Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has announced he will not receive any more taxpayer-funding housing allowances.

The finance minister this afternoon confirmed actions he had taken with the aim of putting the “unnecessary distraction” of the row over his housing expenses behind him.

His announcement comes ahead of an informal meeting scheduled with the Auditor-General’s office this evening to discuss an investigation into his housing allowances claim.

* Had not received any housing allowance payments since July 28.

Mr English said he:

* Would no longer receive a housing allowance.

* Had received a legal opinion from Stephen Kos, QC, that changes made to his family trust arrangements did not affect his eligibility for the housing allowance.

* Had repaid all housing allowance payments received since last November’s election to Ministerial Services.

“What I’m announcing today reflects a set of personal decisions I have made about my own situation,” Mr English said.

“At all times my decisions have been driven by my desire to keep my family together and provide them with as much stability as possible.

“It is in no way setting a precedent for others although I make the point here that I believe Parliament does have to think how it can accommodate the families of long-term politicians.”

A TV One poll showed that voters felt the issue was denting Mr English’s credibility. It’s now clear that the system has struggled to deal with my circumstances.

The Deputy Prime Minister considers the Southland town of Dipton, in his electorate, to be his primary residence under parliamentary rules, but his family has lived in, and owned, a house in Wellington for years.

Asked if the issue had damaged his credibility, 62 percent said yes and 27 percent no; asked if Mr English has acted with integrity, 54 percent said no and 30 percent yes.

He came under fire when it was revealed he was now claiming a much higher allowance to stay in the Wellington house than when he lived there as an opposition MP.

He came under fire when it was revealed he was now claiming a much higher allowance to stay in the Wellington house than when he lived there as an opposition MP.

Today, a spokesman for Mr English said the Auditor-General’s office wrote to the minister after receiving the complaint.

Auditor-General Lyn Provost has asked for more information before deciding whether to investigate a complaint by Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton into the matter.

He will meet with a team from the office tonight for informal talks which will not form part of the inquiry, the spokesman said.

They said “feel free” to get in touch and Mr English has done that. .

Mr English will be informed about what the Auditor-General’s office is doing

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It was a reunion of reunions.

Twelve Apollo astronauts reminisced, traded stories and poked fun at each other Friday night as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and moonwalk approached.

The crowd of hundreds at the National Museum of the United States Air Force erupted in cheers when a video chronicling the space program replayed Armstrong’s famous first words after stepping on the moon July 20, 1969: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

The astronauts, including first moonmen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, attended the ceremony in which the National Aviation Hall of Fame presented the Apollo crews with the “Spirit of Flight” award for their courage and dedication. “Any time you go to a place where everything you see is different than anything you’ve ever seen before in your life, it’s unique and it’s memorable.”

“It was spectacular,” Armstrong recalled of gazing at the moon’s surface as he took those first steps.”

However, Armstrong said he and Aldrin had little time to savor the experience. And that certainly was.

Armstrong said he had been a backup on Apollo 8 and that when he wasn’t needed was asked if he wanted to be on the third mission down the line — what turned out to be the fateful Apollo 11 mission.

“We didn’t rest hardly five seconds when we got a message from Mission Control, saying get on with the next item,” Armstrong said.

“We knew we had a chance at landing, but it was by no means certain,” he said. He said it was difficult to predict the exact mission of succeeding flights.

Astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, also flew in the flight preceding Armstrong’s.

As they sat together on the stage, the astronauts joked and bantered with each other.

“Everyone knew Neil could land on the moon, but we didn’t have a lot of confidence Neil could find it,” Cernan quipped. He joked that his job was to paint a white line to the moon that Apollo 11 could follow.

But the first lunar landing was a serious matter for the astronauts and those in mission control.

“I’ve been listening to that for 40 years, and this is not the time to change my position,” Armstrong shot back, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“I can’t say it was panic, but it was a lot of attention to detail in mission control,” said Charles Duke, who was at mission control at the time. When the designated landing zone proved to be too rocky, Armstrong had to burn fuel from a diminishing supply to find a suitable place to touch down.” When there were only 30 seconds of fuel left, “it got dead silent. .”

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Freezing weather moving across the country looks set to continue resulting in major disruption on South Island roads today.

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In Otago, State Highway 8 between Omarama and Tarras, and between Alexandra and Roxburgh, and SH6 between Haast and Makarora were closed due to snow, while in Canterbury, snow had closed State Highway 80 close to Mt Cook.

Also closed due to snow were SH85 from Omakau to Alexandra, SH6 from Cromwell to Queenstown, and the Lindis Pass. Further north, SH65 from SH6 to Springs Junction was also closed.5cm expected over the next day.

The MetService said that snow showers are expected on Arthurs and Porters passes this morning above about 700 metres with around 1.

State Highway 94 had two warnings in place since yesterday morning – between Mossburn and Te Anau as a result of ice on the road, and between Te Anau and Milford due to snow, the Automobile Association said.

Between three and five centimetres of snow are forecast above 500 metres between Lake Gunn and the Homer Tunnel on Milford Rd during the day.

Snow warnings were also in place last night on SH73 between Springfield and Arthur’s Pass and between Arthur’s Pass and Otira.

A snow warning was also in place on Crown Range between Wanaka and Arrow Junction since midday yesterday.

A Queenstown police spokeswoman said it was the first time in years she had heard of snow forcing the closure of the Kawarau Gorge.

The Kawarau Gorge (SH6) between Queenstown and Cromwell had been closed temporarily but re-opened early this morning.

The MetService warned of snowfall on a number of Canterbury and Otago roads.

Motorists were reported to have become stuck in heavy snow in some areas and police were urging others to be aware of closures and warnings. .

The MetService said two to three centimetres of snow could fall to 800 metres on Lewis Pass, and five to eight centimetres on Arthur’s Pass down to 700 metres, between midnight and 6am this morning.

In the North Island the Desert Road is closed, with conditions set to remain treacherous with snow showers forecast to turn to rain this morning before clearing by about midday.

At Lindis Pass, up to eight centimetres of snow had been expected to fall down to 400 metres in the 15 hours from midnight, easing this afternoon.

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SCHOOLS CLOSED

Meanwhile, the treacherous road conditions have led to the closure of several schools in Central Otago today

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Two Washington, subway trains collided during the Monday afternoon rush hour, killing nine people and injuring at least 75, officials said early on Tuesday.

A District of Columbia Fire Department official said the death toll had been raised from 6 late on Monday, but said officials were could prepared to identify any of the deceased.

Mayor Adrian Fenty called the crash the deadliest in the 33-year history of the city’s Metro subway system. At least one car from the trailing train was hurled on to the top of the other in the accident, which occurred on above-ground tracks. . .

“Metro officials do not know the cause of the. .

The crash occurred on the heavily traveled red line about 5pm EDT (2100 GMT), between Fort Totten and Takoma stations on the northeastern outskirts of the city near the border with Maryland. collision and are not likely to know the cause for several days as the investigation unfolds,” the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said on its Web site.

It was the first crash involving a passenger death since 1982, when three people were killed in a derailment. Both trains were heading south into the city.

“What happened. The Metro train system began service in 1976. . . . (was) one train was stopped waiting to get the order to pass.. .

“We are committed to investigate this accident until we determine why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens again,” Catoe said in a statement. The next train came up behind it and, for reasons that we do not know, collided into the back of that train,” John Catoe, general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, told reporters. The accident trapped passengers in one or more of the subway cars.

The transit authority said one of those killed was a female train operator in the trailing train.

“It was very mangled, everything is ripped out of there,” the woman, who was not identified, told the local ABC television affiliate.

One witness described how one train appeared to collide with – and then run up and over – the second train.

“They will have to do both an investigation and then a release of the scene for us to clean it up,” Fenty told reporters at the scene.

“They will have to do both an investigation and then a release of the scene for us to clean it up,” Fenty told reporters at the scene.

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Australia is reducing measures to check the spread of swine flu, after figures showed the disease to be more infectious, but less likely to require hospital admission, than ordinary flu. .

But the estimates prepared for the government show that the hospital admission and likely death rate is a fraction of that suffered by Australians with seasonal flu, which claims 1000 to 2000 lives every year.

There were 2024 swine flu casesacross the Tasmanby late yesterday, with nine people in hospital, three of them in intensive care.

There have yet to be any deaths from swine flu in Australia.

Because of the mitigation measures, no more deaths from swine flu than from seasonal flu were expected. The Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Jim Bishop, said it might be that the arrival of swine flu had led to an easier flu season in Australia this year.

“We hope we will do better than seasonal flu.

Australia’s health minister, Nicola Roxon, announcedthat Australia would move to new flu alert arrangements, scrapping measures including widespread school closures and thermal screening at international airports. We do not know …whether H1N1 09 [swine flu] will replace seasonal flu, but if it does, it will make the management of the disease easier to treat,” Professor Bishop said. These would be available from the national stockpiles for those people with moderate or severe disease or with vulnerable conditions.

The government is also relaxing quarantine provisions and tightening distribution of antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu.

Measures will focus on early treatment of vulnerable people such as pregnant women and those with chronic diseases such as asthma and heart disease.

But Ms Roxon said it was not appropriate to give antivirals to healthy relatives.

The new regime, officially called “pandemic phase protect”, will begin first in South Australia and Western Australia within days and later in other states.

The new regime, officially called “pandemic phase protect”, will begin first in South Australia and Western Australia within days and later in other states.

– By MARK METHERELL, SMH

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Ms Roxon said the new phase recognised that swine flu was not as severe as originally envisaged when the health management plan for pandemic influenza was written last year